Eaglehawk seeks consistency in BFNL

TWO games into its Bendigo Football League season and Eaglehawk so far is proving to be a “one-quarter wonder”.

The Hawks are 2-0, but in both wins over Sandhurst and Castlemaine have outscored their opposition in just one quarter.

Those one-quarter bursts – the last against Sandhurst in round one (5.3 to 0.2) and second against Castlemaine in round two (4.3 to 0.1) – have been enough to get the Hawks over the line.

But it’s a trend Eaglehawk coach Luke Monaghan wants to rectify, starting in today’s round four Anzac Day clash against Kangaroo Flat at Canterbury Park.

“We’ll obviously take two wins from two games, but they haven’t been wins on our terms,” Monaghan said yesterday.

“We’ve played two good quarters in both those games, but it’s about getting that four quarter performance.

“If you can’t put together at least three good quarters of footy then you’re not going to win many games, so we’ve been lucky to get away with those two wins.

“In our last game against Castlemaine we had 10 players who were new to the club this year.

“That’s nearly half the side, so it’s going to take a bit of time for the guys to gel together and play well.

“And it’s not just fringe roles... there’s Kain Robins at centre half-forward, Tony Plim in the ruck, Lucas Matthews playing on-ball and Brenton Conforti playing key back, so it’s going to take a bit of time.”

The BFL fixture has fallen in Eaglehawk’s favour this week.

Whereas Kangaroo Flat is backing up today five days after losing to Castlemaine, Eaglehawk had the senior bye last weekend and hasn’t played since April 13.

Kangaroo Flat has endured an up-and-down start to the season, with a magnificent come-from-behind victory over Maryborough in round two squeezed between defeats to Golden Square and Castlemaine.

With such a young side, consistency week-to-week again shapes as one of the biggest challenges for the Roos, and that is already proving to be the case.

“With a young group consistency is a hard thing to find, but we’ll do what we can on the training track to try to produce that and get the boys playing the best footy they can each week,” Kangaroo Flat coach Tyrone Downie said.

“It’s obviously exciting to be playing on Anzac Day this week. Not a lot of teams or players get that opportunity, so we’re looking forward to it.

“With the five-day break we haven’t been able to do too much on the track this week, so it has been about getting the boys’ bodies right to go again against Eaglehawk, which should be fresh and has had a good start to the season.”